


now that the weight has lifted

by ideation



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Beaches, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Ocean, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 14:20:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1057799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideation/pseuds/ideation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Titans have been defeated, and Levi takes Eren to see the ocean.  Shameless, shameless fluff.</p><p>prompt fill on tumblr for raikookumuraane</p>
            </blockquote>





	now that the weight has lifted

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published this as an ask on tumblr, cleaned it up for AO3. I'm so bad at writing fluff, hnnngh

It's times like this that Levi remembers that Eren is, comparatively and chronologically, still practically a kid.

Eren's boots are flung haphazardly in the sand and he's already knee-deep in the salty ocean, kicking up water in glittering sprays that reflect the low-hanging sun.  He cheers like he's just killed a Titan; except no, that's not quite right.  When Eren killed Titans, any breath he had left for a scream of triumph was angry and anguished and vengeful.

His yells aren't even like the ones he'd uttered the day the war was proclaimed over, when the Titans were finally defeated and humanity could once more venture outside the walls without fear.  Too charged with loss, with the knowledge that for every person alive to celebrate, there were thousands upon thousands that weren't.

Right now, Eren shouts and whoops with joy, the joy of a person fulfilling a lifelong dream, with nothing more pressing on his mind than the knowledge that Levi is probably going to make him wash about a dozen times to get the sand and salt off his body.  In all the years Levi has known him, held him in his arms, he's never heard such a lively sound come out of Eren, and something hurts when he realizes that it's only now that Eren is grown that he can let himself be so unabashedly childish.  

"Oi, Eren.  You're going to get eaten by a shark if you stay in there much longer."  Levi is far away from where the waves crest and crash on the shore, but even so he swears he can feel flecks of ocean spray hitting his skin.

"I won't get eaten, sharks only stay in the deep water...right?" replies Eren uncertainly, but even so he steps out of the surf, onto the sand that molds itself perfectly to the soles of his feet and makes his toes itch.  He's grown a few inches over the past four years, and now when he kisses Levi he has to stoop a lot lower than he used to.  It infuriates Levi to no end, but the fact that he's been able to watch Eren fight and survive and become a man is more than enough to get him over that particular annoyance.

"You taste like salt," mutters Levi when they break apart, and Eren laughs.

"It's because the wind keeps blowing so much, right?  That's why the air smells so strongly like the ocean, too, it's the water being blown around all over the place.  That's what Armin says."  Eren sits on the sand, arms propped on one raised knee, and stares out over the horizon.  "The colours look a lot brighter here, don't they, Corporal?"

"I'm not your Corporal anymore," says Levi, but there's no real rebuke in his words.  Eren has never been able to shake the habit of calling him by his rank when they're anywhere other than a private setting, and probably won't for years.  Illogical as it is, Levi is both dreading and anticipating the day when Eren finally learns to call him by name.  "But yeah, they do look more vibrant."

"Right?  It's even better than seeing the sunset from the top of the wall."  Eren smiles, watching the sky drip deeper reds and oranges towards the sinking sun.  "It's really amazing, the world we're in.  It's still so beautiful."

Levi looks down at Eren, sees the colours of the sky reflected in his eyes and bathing his skin in warm, molten light, and decides that now is as good a time as any.

"Eren," he says, "let's get married."

Eren turns his head slowly, staring blankly up at Levi like he can't quite believe he heard correctly.  Levi knows for a fact that he did, and gives him time to process.

"Corporal...?"

"I want to marry you, Eren," he says calmly, even though his heart has picked up the pace considerably.  "And I'm asking if that's what you want as well."

"Yes!" blurts out Eren, gracelessly as ever, and Levi fights hard not to roll his eyes.  "I mean, yeah, of course, Corporal.  Levi."  Eren grins.  "Let's get married, Levi."

So Eren's started to learn already.   _Not bad._

Levi leans down for another kiss as the last rays of the sun disappear beyond the thin blue line of the sea.

**Author's Note:**

> And yes, I did steal a line from the song "Marry Me" for the title je ne regrette rien
> 
> /lays down and reaches for neglected homework


End file.
